Handheld digital recorders are great for capturing music on the fly at CD quality. But when you need pro-level audio reproduction, a handheld usually can’t measure up. Zoom’s H4n is an exception, delivering 24-bit/96kHz high-resolution audio in Zoom’s most sophisticated handheld recorder to date.

What is it about 12-fret acoustics that make purists salivate? Is it because these small-body instruments are deeply steeped in the classical and folk guitar tradition, or because Satan-obsessed bluesmen like Robert Johnson played them? Whatever it is, these guitars look timeless and sound big, despite their diminutive size.

Is that a rig in your pocket? If it is, then it must be Guitar Rig Mobile, Native Instruments’ newest, smallest and most affordable incarnation of its ubiquitous Guitar Rig software/hardware package. No larger than a cigarette pack, Guitar Rig Mobile combines Guitar Rig LE software with a full-featured USB 2.0 audio interface to let you plug in and play anywhere you go.

Just when you thought all delay pedals were repeats of one another, DigiTech comes along with something really unique. The TimeBender takes delay in an entirely different direction with 10 effects that range from traditional to out of this world.